Contamination
by stripesthetiger11
Summary: Sniffles thinks of himself as a failure, but will not quit. But what happens when he tries to make chemical that can cure cancer, swine flue, and other diseases, but instead does the exact opposite and creates a new disease? A deadly disease. A seemingly incurable disease. No longer accepting OCs.
1. Intro

**Hey guys. I know I have two other stories to write, but I just couldn't help myself with this one! Anyways, I hope you like this one!**

_Sniffles_

Failure! That's all I am. It's been four months since I made a successful invention, but now I can't make anything that I intend to make! I can't even make a cherry pie right! I'm a failure.

Broken and unused parts lay scattered around me, along with a few chemical filled test tubes. God, what happened to the anteater who could make a perfect invention to catch the Ant Family in less than an hour? What happened to the genius that the Raccoon twins used to make fun of? What happened to the scientist who could make time travel possible with just a few tweaks on a washing machine? I can't do anything right.

I am so confused. I might as well just give up…

No! I will not give up! I will keep trying until I can't move anymore! Maybe if I could just try something that I haven't tried making before. Something that could change animalkind! But what?

Then an idea came to my head. I gave a large grin and stood up, ready to change everything. I walked up to my counter, fixing some of the few non-cracked test tubes. I got the chemicals that I might need for this experiment. Then I got to work.

How long was I at work? For about eighteen hours. I did not rest. I would not let anything get in my way from my dream goal. If I made a mistake, it was immediately fixed, no questions asked. I didn't answer the phone when it rang nor did I answer the door when there was someone behind it.

And then finally… I was finished.

I sighed in relief. I took the test tube and looked at the liquid. Inside was a mud-like gray liquid that bubbled, even though it wasn't warm. I smiled weakly and then looked into the mirror. I was a mess. My glasses were cracked, my fur was drenched in sweat, and my lab coat was stained with rainbow colors.

I was just about to go to sleep, when I heard a knock on the door.

**How ya like this? Oooh, who's at the door? Wow, I hope you guys like this. Oh, and please send you're OCS THROUGH PM! Please?**

**Anyways, here's the info:**

**Name:**

**Species:**

**Gender:**

**Age:**

**Appearance:**

**Abilities or Talents:**

**Weapon of Choice:**

**Personality:**

**Bio:**

**Relationships with Other Characters:**

**Misc:**


	2. Accidents Happen

**Hey guys! I'm tryin' to update this as soon as I can, which is just after Flippy Face's review. Anyshoe, LET THE CHAPTER BEGIN!**

_Sniffles_

Ugh, why now? I thought to myself. I was just about to get some shut eye, when I hear a knock on the door. And it was ten o' clock at night. Who would be knocking at my door at this hour?

I walked over to the door and yanked it open, soon surprised by who I saw. It was Stripes, Ares, Millie, and Muffin. Now, I didn't mind seeing Muffin here, but I was wondering why the others were here.

Stripes was an orange tiger with black stripes and a light brown ranger hat. I thought that I was under arrest for a second, since she is the town's best police officer, but then I realized that she wouldn't have brought the others with her, so I was safe, for now. Unlike Giggles and Petunia, she wasn't into things most female animals are into. Most girls would prefer having tea parties and dressing up, but Stripes was the type of animal who enjoyed playing football and beating up Shifty. I smiled at the memory of Stripes pounding the raccoon's face in after he had snatched my wallet.

Next was Ares. He was a cross between a raccoon and a fox. Has black fur with a violet circle marking on his torso, black foxlike ears with violet tips and a black and violet raccoon-like tail with zigzag rings. Ares actually used to be an iris flower, but he wanted to be an animal, so I put him into an actual successful machine that I made and now he was… this.

Muffin was actually someone I didn't mind having around at times. She was a maroon colored fox with a mauve that depicted a chocolate chip muffin. I tried explaining to Shifty that the muffin on her shirt was chocolate chip, not raisins, but I have to admit that there's really no way to tell. She worked as the town baker and was one of my closest friends.

Last was Millie, or sometimes "The Labrador." She was a fading yellow Labrador dog with deep wrinkles. She wore orange and red clay beads as a three layer necklace, bracelets, and earrings. She also had a cane that helped her walk. She was a gypsy here in Happy Tree Town, but didn't become an official resident until after she "cursed" half of the town citizens. Now she just tells fortunes and likes to knit a lot. What I found was strange was that she like flirt with random guys in the town, even me though I'm eighteen and she's, what, fifty-eight?

"Wow Sniffles, you're a mess! Are you alright?" Muffin exclaimed, and I smiled, finding it cute that she cared for me. "Yeah, I'm fine," I responded. "I've just been… working. What are you doing here?" Muffin smiled and shrugged. "Hey, I'm just here to watch," She said. Watch what? "Dude, remember? You were supposed to help me get rid of my fear of dogs," Stripes said coldly. "And puppies," Ares muttered under his breath. "Dude, I will mess you up," Stripes said, glaring. Ares just rolled his eyes.

Oh yeah, the dog thing. Despite being the tough and strong woman she was, Stripes was deathly afraid of dogs. I asked her why, but she just responded with "stuff." "Can't we do this another time?" I asked while yawning, lifting up my glasses to rub my eyes. Stripes shook her head furiously. "No way, man. You've already postponed this three times. You're gonna do this now!" the cat growled at me. I sighed and stepped inside, letting them in.

"Why are you here?" I asked Ares. "Stripes made me tag along," he responded. "She told me that if you kill her, then I have to- and I quote- 'gut him like a fish, rip his heart out, and crush his head like a soda can.'" Ares changed the pitch of his voice to make it sound like Stripes'. I paused for a minute, staring at him as if he had two heads. "Ares, that was the worst impression of Stripes I've ever heard," I told him. "Whatever," he said, pushing past me.

"And you?" I asked Millie. "Well, dear. I've been interested to know what your inventions are and what they do. I've heard that they're pretty interesting, so I thought I might stick around to see if they really work." I nodded. Since I am a man of science, you can guess that I was never one to believe in fortune telling or magic, much less curses.

"Alright, hold on," I said and walked to the back of my lab. I grabbed a few chemicals and started to mix them around. I don't know if I messed up or not, but the liquid became a translucent light brown liquid. I grabbed the test tube and stuffed it in Stripes' paws. "Drink that," I commanded, a bit more rude than I had originally intended. Stripes gave me a suspicious look, but drank it.

She had a look of pure disgust, but drank the whole thing down. When she was finished, she almost threw up. "God, it tastes like cat food!" She exclaimed. "And how do you know what cat food tastes like?" Muffin asked from behind her.

Stripes didn't answer. Instead, she froze in place with a look of shock on her face. Then, her eyes became pure white and her teeth became sharp. Her claws grew out and she started growling ferociously at Millie.

"That wasn't supposed to happen," I said, gulping. But before Stripes could make a move on Millie, she froze again. And then all of a sudden, she disappeared. Everything happened so fast that we weren't able to see if Stripes had gone through any changes. All that was left was her hat on the ground.

Ares sighed and cracked his knuckles before heading towards me. "No wait!" I pleaded, hoping that he would stop. Ares didn't stop until we heard a scraping ground. We all looked at Stripes' hat slowly moving around. I hesitantly took the hat from the ground, surprising everyone because of what was under it.

It was Stripes. Kind of. Stripes' tail was shortened and she wouldn't stop wagging it. Stripes herself also became small; up to my knee to be exact. She grew a snout, had a wet black nose, and had her tongue sticking out. She was on all fours, and the patch of her fur on her chest and down her stomach was black, while the rest of her fur was orange. Her eyes were still just white and her teeth were still sharpened into points. To make things short, I had turned Stripes into a puppy.

"Stripes dear, is that you?" Millie asked, staring at the small puppy at her feet. "That was also not supposed to happen," I said. Stripes looked curiously at the animals around her, and then immediately ran over to Ares and started to scratch at his feet. Ares blushed, bent down, and started petting her on the head and scratching her under her chin and behind her ear.

"Um, how long will she be like this?" Muffin asked. I shrugged. "She should turn back to normal in the morning." I bent down to pet the dog, but she started growling at me and barking. My hand retreated, not wanting to lose a finger.

"Who will we let Stripes stay with until then?" I asked. "She hates me, but seems to have a liking for Ares." We all turned to look at Ares. He sighed and picked up Stripes off the ground. "I'll take care of her," he said, before setting Stripes down and leading her out the door.

Millie looked like she wanted to leave to, but then she caught sight of some of my chemicals and inventions. "May I ask what this is?" she asked and wobbled over to one of my test tubes and picked it up. It was the one full of gray liquid.

I almost freaked out when I saw her pick it up. "No! Be careful with that! That's very important!" I shouted. Millie seemed surprised at the sudden scolding and stumbled back. Her foot landed on a fallen test tube and she fell backwards. The gray liquid in her hands flew out and hit Muffin in the face. The glass shattered on impact. Luckily, Muffin was not harmed by the glass, but had gotten gray liquid sprayed all over her face.

My jaw dropped. So much work, spilled all over Muffin's face. I felt my eye twitch, but I didn't even bother start yelling at Millie. I was too tired. "Ugh, what is this stuff?" Muffin shouted.

"My latest invention," I sighed, not raising my voice even the slightest. "It was supposed to cure diseases such as cancer, swine flu, and so on." Millie looked upset, and she should be. "Oh dear, I'm so sorry!" she apologized. "No no. It's quite alright. Just… get out," I said. Millie nodded and left. Muffin stayed, but only to wash off, and then she left too.

So much work. It'll take forever to duplicate that formula. I'll start another time. Now, I should just get some sleep before I pass out.

_The Next Morning_

_Muffin_

I woke up the morning, well rested, but feeling slightly ill. But it'll take more than that to stop me from opening my bakery. Much more than that.

Stripes was the first to visit, thankfully back to normal. She ordered a few cookies before leaving, but while watching her leave, I saw her bark and growl at a passing Giggles.

Next was Vitty and Wildy. Vitty was a squirrel with purple fur. He had three bangs that stop just above his eyes. He wore a white tank top and had a black holster that contained two bowie knives. He, like Flippy, had a split personality, but he didn't kill anyone and was sort of similar to his normal self.

Wildy was pure craziness. She was a yellow tiger with black stripes with a blue top, black skinny jeans, one black sneaker on her left foot and a white sneaker on her right foot. She was great at wrestling and had an unusual habit of staring at the sun for hours, somehow not going blind. She talked with a quick, hard to understand voice. She likes to befriend everyone in Happy Tree Town, even the ones that want to punch her in the face. She was insane to the point where she made Nutty on sugar coated crack look normal.

Vitty ordered a few cookies before leaving, but I had some difficulties with Wildy. She said that she wanted twenty cannons, five toy soldiers, a sick of dynamite, and a zebra. When I told her that I didn't have any of those things, she called me racist and stormed out.

Next was Ryan Charles Anderson and Scott Charles Anderson Roscarieon. Ryan and Scar for short. Ryan was a brown badger in a green military uniform and red eyes. Scar was a blue colored tiger in a blue tiger officer's uniform. His left ear was shortened and he had a scar running down the side of his face. He also had a tail, but it just wasn't easy to see.

Ryan was known to be the sadistic kind of guy who kills people without any emotion, while Scar was known as the kind, caring, and friendly type of person. It was surprising they were brothers.

Scar ordered a couple of brownies, while Ryan just grabbed a cookie and left without paying. I didn't say anything about it though. I actually want to live until the end of the day, unlike some people.

Next was a great friend of mine: Samiee. If Nutty didn't already do it, Samiee would scarf down all of my cookies before you can say "chocolate chip muffins in a brownie factory." Samiee was an orange fox, but the tips of his paws and tail were white. He wore a black scarf, a coal newsboy hat, and British style glasses.

"You don't look too good, Muffin," Samiee commented while I was making him a plate of cookies. "I'm fine," was all I said. "Maybe you should go see Blink and Link," the fox said to me. I shook my head. Blink and Link were two twin snow white wolves with no pupils, but there eyes were red. They wore nothing to tell them apart, but Blink was a mute female and Link was an audible male. Despite being major pranksters, they were the town's best doctors, even though they worked as surgeons. If Tree Friends were sick, they either stayed home and waited to get better or they saw the Wolf Twins.

"I said I'm fine," I repeated. I knew I wasn't, though. My skin seemed to lose only a bit of its color and I was coughing quite a bit. Maybe I should go see Blink and Link. No, I had to stay here. I only left here if it was an emergency. I mean, it's not like I'm-

My thoughts were interrupted when someone else came in. It was Mirrors. Mirrors was a panther with strange colors. The front half of her body was white, and the oval on her stomach a light gray, while her whole back half of her body was light gray, tail and all. I guess that's why she was called Mirrors, I think. What was weird was that her pupils were a light blue and never seemed to move. She moved in about three months ago, so everyone was now used to her. She also lived in a mirror funhouse at the abandoned amusement park, which is another reason to call her Mirrors. She usually never comes here though, since she prefers fish and seafood rather than cookies and sweets.

"Hey Mirrors, can I get you something?" I asked. "Well, I bumped into Sub Zero just a few minutes ago, and he wants me to come in here and buy him an ice cream cake, but he's buying." The panther held up a couple dollars. I looked out the window to see Sub Zero waving at me.

Sub Zero was a light blue bear with no pupils. He wore brown furry boots, a brown Eskimo jacket, a red scarf that covered his mouth, red mittens, and a blue snow cap. For some reason, he doesn't wear pants. He was known around town for freezing everything he touched with absolutely no control over it. I felt sorry for the guy. All he could eat was ice and ice cream, and anything else that was frozen. He made a living off of making amazing ice sculptures for people.

I took the money from Mirrors, took out an ice cream cake and handed it to her. "Thanks!" She said before turning to leave. "Wait!" I shouted. She turned to look at me. I coughed loudly and she flinched.

"Do I look sick to you?" I asked. She froze at the question and stared straight at me. "Um… I'm not a doctor. Go see Blink and Link," was what the panther said before leaving in quite a rush. I watched her leave before shrugging to myself.

"That was… weird," Samiee said. After a few minutes, even more customers came in. I was surprised by how many people were coming in. This time, it was Zippy and Puffy. They were both female cats and sisters.

Zippy had reddish range fur and normal, orange, straight, long hair. Puffy had sky blue fur and electric blue long and curly hair. They were both very kind, but Zippy seemed more like the crazy one. I didn't mind though; this town was full of crazy and strange people.

The cats ordered a vanilla cake with blue frosting. I got it ready in a jiffy. I gave the large cake two the two females before they ran off. "Hey Samiee," I said while cleaning up the mess I made. "Yeah?" He responded while nibbling on a cookie. "How come you only eat cookies, but you haven't bought or even tasted any of the other goods in my bakery?" I asked. "I…" Samiee paused and looked at his cookie. "I… I can't answer that."

All of the sudden, the door opened up again, revealing Derick and Hailz. Hailz was a seventeen year old purple rabbit that wore a dark blue hoodie, black jeans, and red shoes. She has light purple rabbit ears that are always naturally down and a small bushy tail. She has a small golden hoop earring on her right ear and she has short brown hair and bangs that cover her right eye. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail. I liked her. She had an amazing trick. She could stuff twenty sugar cookies into her mouth without gagging, much less chocking.

Derick was a male wolf with black fur, a bushy tail with a red tip, and short messy red hair. He also had green eyes. He wore a grey shirt with dark blue, ripped up jeans, and dark red shoes.

"Hey, how's my favorite sugar cookie loving rabbit?" I asked, giving them a wide smile. "Pretty good. Fifteen sugar cookies please," Hailz told me. I smiled and starting to gather up the cookies. "You don't look too good yourself, Muffin," Derick said with a worried expression on his face. "I'm fine," I said. In reality, my body felt like it was in an oven for an hour.

When I came back and set down the cookies, Derick grabbed my wrist. "Dang, Muffin. You're hot," he said. I sighed. Derick was known to flirt with everyone, but at least he was better than Disco Bear. "No, I mean that you're burning up!" he said. "Your whole body is!"

"Muffin, are you _sure _you don't need to go see the wolf twins?" Samiee asked. "I said I'm f-," I was interrupted when I started coughing roughly. When I stopped, I felt something in the back of my throat. I took two fingers and put them into the back of my throat.

When I pulled them out, I found that they were covered with blood.

**CLIFF HANGAH!... boom. Well, I hoped you liked this! If you didn't, then well who cares?**

**I am still accepting OCs. REVIEW!**


	3. First to Fall

**Hey guys. 'Nother chapter. So… enjoy.**

**Muffin: But what happens to me?**

**GET OUTA MY AUTHORS NOTES, RUNT!**

**Muffin: T_T**

**Heh, so yeah. Enjoy. This is actually gonna be kinda sad to read. Sorry.**

_Muffin_

After a lot of fighting, I went with Samiee's idea and now I was heading to Blink and Link's home. I was coughing insanely and it showed no sign of stopping anytime soon.

I was trying to remember where their house was, but my coughing was making me forget a lot. I turned the corner on the way to Blink and Link's but was stopped by something else.

Before I could get a grasp on what was happening, I felt something grab my ankle and I was soon hung upside down by rope. While upside down, I saw Clam come around the corner with a huge smile on his face.

Clam was a yellow otter with a green hat that has 3 triangle prongs on each side. He was an expert at pulling hilarious pranks, unless you're the victim. Then it's just not so funny anymore.

Clam's smile faded and he growled at me. "Darn it! I thought you were Blink!" he shouted. He grabbed a small knife and started to cut the rope. All of the sudden, gravity became a pain once again and I fell head first into the ground. I sat up and rubbed my head, groaning in pain.

"What was that for?" I shouted at him. "Can't talk right now! Gotta find Blink!" Clam said and ran off. I got up and started coughing some more.

Great, I'm coughing like a maniac AND I have a headache. I have to hurry to the wolf twin's house before something else happens. Wait, where was it again? Oh yeah, 55555 Purple Apple Street. That was it, right? Unless it was 66666 Orange Apple Street. No, wait. It was Purple Apples because that's where all the wild dogs are seen. Orange Apple is where you see a bunch wild bears. Or was it giraffes? Elephants?

I cursed myself and put the subject off of my mind. Then I started heading towards Purple Apple Street. I think.

I was soon at a house painted pure white with a red roof. I slowly knocked on the door, awaiting an answer. It took about five seconds for someone to answer the door. As I expected, a white wolf with red eyes opened to door. Unlike this wolf's twin, he was male and could speak.

"Oh god, another patient?" Link sighed, seeming irritated. "What? How many do you have now?" I asked. "Now? Eight. Total? Twenty-four, including you," the wolf told me. Twenty-four? Wow. Maybe I should've come here later. "I'm sorry, should I come later?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure yo-" before Link could finish, I coughed, but accidently didn't cover my mouth. Four or five tiny drops of blood splattered onto Link's face. Link closed his eyes just in time, but time froze when the blood hit his face. He was silent for a minute before saying, "Come in."

I hesitated for a moment before nodding and stepping inside. Link walked towards his sink in the kitchen and washed his face clean. The wolf wasn't lying about his patients, though. There were eight different animals all crowded around the couches.

"You know guys, there's a special place for injuries like yours," Link said, coming back it. "It's called the hospital!" I ignored what he was saying and paid attention to the eight either on the couches or lying on the floor. I spotted Ace, Spade, Mute, Feather, Risky, Felix, Skylar, and Sunstar.

Ace was a snake that was capable of stretching himself ten meters, but he was currently about five meters. His back was black while his stomach was gray. He wore a red baseball cap and had friendly and almost comical eyes with red irises. Right now, his whole mid-section was tied in a rather large knot while lying on the ground.

Spade was a white rainbow lemur. She had white fur with a rainbow colored tail, rainbow eyes; there was rainbow on the bottom of her feet, and rainbow on the inside of her ears. What looked painful was that her tail was ripped almost completely in half, the rest of her tail hanging limply only connected by a few pieces of skin. She was lying on the couch, wincing in pain.

Next to Spade on the couch was Mute and Feather. Feather and Mute were two twin female cats. They were both completely black with a white ring around both of their left eyes. The only difference was that Mute had not pupils, but sea blue eyes and never seemed to talk, just to her twin and Flippy. Feather was the more talkative twin and sometimes just wouldn't shut her mouth. They remind me a crap load of Blink and Link. Right now, both of them had their tails stuck in what looked like a meat grinder.

Felix was lying on the floor next to Ace. He was a badger with black fur, dark purple ears with right ear torn at the tip, and he had a scar on his right cheek. He had blue eyes, and black spiky hair that's red at the tips. He wore a black pullover, black jeans, and black shoes. His claws and the tip of his tail were both red. There was a giant butcher knife stuck in his stomach and his tail looked like it had most of the skin burned off.

On the other couch held Risky, Skylar, and Sunstar. Risky was a "Nepative," whatever that was, and had white fur, and a fluffy tail. His tail had a blue stripe near the middle, while it was red after the blue stripe. He had a red right eye, and a blue left eye. Near his right eye, was a blue dot, and a red dot was near his left eye. His left ear was red, while the other was blue, and it was the same thing with his paws. Both eyes were pulled out of their sockets, still connected to the brain, and his tail had several deep gashes in them.

Skylar was a wolf with blue and white fur, blue eyes, and sharp black claws. No one knew really anything about her past, besides the fact that she bumped her head in middle school. Her arm was stuck inside the pipe she always carried, and you could see blood dripping from the inside. Her leg was also twisted at an unnatural angle.

Sunstar was a "Yuki," again, whatever that was, with light gray and almost white fur, golden eyes, a fading purple tail, and a pretty emerald necklace. Some people say she's over one hundred years old, but she says she lost her memory at the age of eighty-four. Either way, Sniffles finds it hard to believe. Although she likes to disappear from danger, her buck teeth were shattered and she had a large gash in her stomach.

"Oh god, what happened to you guys?" I asked. "It all started when Flippy and The Mole walked into the meat market," Ace said, answering my question completely.

Link started looking over Felix and began treating his wounds with various liquids. "So where's Blink?" I asked, noticing the absence of the other white wolf. "She's at the park with Flaky and Cuddles," Link said. "You do know that Clam's looking for her, right?" I asked. Link sighed. "Oh yeah, he's trying to prank her before she pranks him. A few days ago, we tried seeing who was the best prankster and whoever was pranked first was out while the other two try pranking each other. I lost when Clam made my box of Cheerios explode in my face. Now my sister and him are at each other's throats." I nodded, laughing slightly.

While Link was looking over Felix, he caught sight of the badger's arm and started stroking it. "Hey, do you work out?" Link asked Felix. "What? I guess… why?" the badger asked, giving the wolf a confused look. "No reason," Link said quickly before shoving medicine into Felix's mouth.

It took over an hour, but Link was finally able to untie Ace, stitch up Spade's tail, get Mute and Feather's tails unstuck from the meat grinder, remove the knife from Felix's tail while patching up the hole and healing his tail, remove Skylar's hand from the pipe and fix her leg, and heal Sunstar's gashes, but I still wasn't looked at. Link said goodbye to everyone and eagerly shoved them out the door before looking at me.

"Well, you're coughing up blood, which I know for a fact, so that can't be a good sign," the wolf said. "You really think so?" I said sarcastically. He ignored me, made me sit on the couch while he sat across from me. Link started asking me questions, like how I felt this morning or when my coughing began. I answered them all politely and honestly.

"So, did you touch anyone this morning?" Link asked. "Well, yeah, all the customers that I had," I answered. "And can you name them?" Link asked. "Uh yeah," I said, searching my head for the memories of my customers this morning. "Let's see. First was Stripes, then Vitty and Wildy, Ryan and Scar, Samiee, Mirrors and Sun Zero, but of course I didn't touch him, Zippy and Puffy, and last was Hailz and… uh… that wolf guy."

Link wrote down some stuff. "Don't you mean Derick?" he asked. I shrugged, not sure anymore. Link paused for a minute before asking, "Muffin, can you tell me how to make a simple chocolate chip cookie?" he asked me. I smiled and nodded, knowing that I would ace this question. "Okay, all you need is…" I trailed off. My mind had gone blank. How _do _you make a chocolate chip cookie? "I don't know," I said, shaking. Link tapped his chin with his pencil for a few minutes before getting up and heading to his room. He came back five seconds later with a stack of papers. He sat back down and looked at me sternly. He coughed a few times. "Are you alright?" I asked. "Yeah, I'm fine," Link answered before holding up the stack.

"Muffin, these are pictures of all our friends," he told me. "I'm going to put up pictures of each one and you have to name them." I nodded, understanding. He held up a picture of a light green squirrel covered in candy. "That's Nutty." I said. He put that picture down and held up another one, but this time depicting a red porcupine. "That one is Flaky," I told him simply. Link started holding up more pictures.

"Lifty."

"Vitty."

"Samiee."

"Um, Disco Bear."

"Uh, Hailz, right?"

"That's… I-I don't know."

This picture was of a maroon fox wearing a mauve shirt that depicted a muffin with either chocolate chips or raisins. It was probably raisins. She also had a cookie pin in her right ear. "I don't know," I repeated. "Who is that?" the wolf in front of me sighed and looked at me with a worried expression. "This…" the wolf started off.

"It's you."

I stared, not sure what to say. Then I leaned over to cough up more blood. The wolf was kidding, right? I abruptly stood up and ran out the door. "Muffin, wait!" I heard the wolf calling from behind. I refused to stop. What was going on?

I looked back to see if the wolf was following me, but forgot to look forward.

With a slam, I crashed into another animal. I fell to the ground, only to stand straight back up. The animal in front of me groaned and rubbed his head. He was a brown porcupine or hedgehog with dandruff falling from her hair and spikes lining her back. She had dark green markings are spread randomly across her spikes. Her eyes shone a deep sea blue iris. She had a small ring on her right hand forefinger and a yellowish baseball cap on her head.

"Who are you?" I asked. She looked at me strangely. "What, you don't remember me?" She asked. I shook my head. "It's me, Flack! You know, Flaky's sister?" I still shook my head, not having a clue what she was talking about.

"You don't looks so good," she told me. "Your fur is turning gray and blood is dripping from your lips. You look like a zombie! What happened to you?" I started coughing towards the ground, blood splattering everywhere. I stood up straight again and looked at Flack. "Catch me," I said before falling into her arms.

_Sniffles_

I had given up on the chemical. I just couldn't remember the formula! It was probably just another waste of my pathetic time.

I was sitting on my couch, reading a science book, when I heard a knock on the door. I reluctantly put down my book to open the door. It was Splendid, who was carrying Stripes by gripping her stomach and holding her against him in the air.

"What is it?" I asked, bored. "Would you mind explaining why I found Stripes on all fours, scratching at my door and making dog-like barking sounds at Giggles and Petunia?" he asked. Stripes was whining at Splendid to put her down, but at the same time growling furiously at me. "Weird, the effects of the chemical should have worn off by now," I said to him.

I had seen Stripes the morning acting like normal, but I guess something must've snapped her back into dog mode again. It was going to take a few tries to get her back to normal again, and lot more tries to do it permanently.

"I'll think of something," I said to Splendid, but he stepped inside with Millie tailing behind him. "Wait, how did you get here?" I asked, knowing that Millie wasn't there five seconds ago. "It's better if you don't know," she answered, winking at me. "What are you doing here, anyways?" I asked. "Don't you remember? You wanted me to come over to see if I could _really _tell your fortune," Millie said politely, holding up a crystal ball. Oh yeah, that.

"Okay, Splendid. Stripes will have to wait a bit longer," I told Splendid, getting an unpleasant look from the hero. Millie sat down at the coffee table and I sat across from her. She set down the crystal ball as Splendid just watched and tried to keep Stripes from barking at me.

We sat there for a few minutes as Millie looked into the crystal ball. Her expression darkened with each passing minute. After almost fifteen minutes, she gasped in shock and jumped back. "What's wrong?" I asked, not impressed. "D-dear, where's your friend Muffin?" Millie asked. My expression became a one of worry. "Why? What's wrong?" Splendid asked. "We have to find her!" Millie yelled, standing up.

Stripes seemed to brighten up at the word "find" and began barking. In surprise, Splendid made the mistake of dropping Stripes. Stripes, on all fours, dashed out the open door. "Stripes!" we all exclaimed and began chasing after her, Millie going the slowest.

_Fifteen Minutes Later…_

"Slow down, dears!" Millie exclaimed as she tried to keep up with us. Lucky for us, Stripes' pace slowed as someone came into view. Make that two animals. As I came closer I saw, to my horror, that it was Flack carrying Muffin.

I gasped and ran faster, worried more than ever. When Flack saw us, she showed an expression of relief, not even taking a second glance at Stripes. "What happened?" I demanded when I reached her. "Sh-she didn't look too good, saying that she didn't know who I or Flaky was. Then she coughed up blood and fell into my arms," Flack said, shaking. She gave Muffin to me and I dropped to my knees, holding her ever so gently.

"M-Millie, if she dies, she'll come back, right?" I desperately asked, despite fortune telling going against science. Millie just stood there, muttering to herself and staring at Muffin in shock. "Answer me!" I demanded. Nothing.

I looked over Muffin. Her fur was gray and blood was spilling out of her mouth. She looked horrible. I lowered my head and gritted my teeth, thinking that she was dead. Then I heard a small moaning sound coming from what I thought was a corpse.

"Muffin! Come on, stay with me!" I shouted. Muffin only smiled at me and touched my face. "Although I don't know who you are," Muffin croaked, "I'm just thankful that someone cares about me.

And then she died in my arms.

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